“He wants nothing more than to finish this mission and return to a quiet human life.” Soap grinned, watching the young human fire elemental sleeping soundly. Unlike Benton, they did not need to sleep but would rest along with Benton nonetheless.
“How little does he realize that he’ll never be free of Faerie now. Even that Hank guy is forever tied to the magic. No one is ever left the same after walking in the Land of Faerie.”
Soap nodded as he settled down for the evening. Such somber words were never truer.
Chapter 19
Four hours later, Hank and Luci were pulling into a long gravel drive, the stones clicking loudly under the tires of the rented car.
Looking at the little house before him, he noticed that it was in need of a little TLC. Although the small yard around the cottage was still well maintained, the building itself was in desperate need of a coat of paint and a few repairs.
Overall, however, it was still the cozy little farmstead of his childhood.
It had been a couple of years since they had visited, and Hank felt plenty guilty about that. He could of course rationalize that his work kept him exceedingly busy, but he knew that it was mostly the long drive that kept him away.
He didn’t own a car, and he hated driving.
Luckily, she would visit him in the city a couple of times a year. But that was still no excuse, and he was determined to rectify that situation in the future,
Exiting the car, Hank and Luci made their way to the front door. Knocking twice, they waited as they heard some movement from inside. He shook his head at how short the doorway was. Although he was only 5’10”, he would have to duck through the doorway to enter the house.
The door suddenly opened before them, the wisp of a short, older woman staring up at him from behind thick glasses.
“Oh my word…Hank! This is indeed a surprise! Come in, come in! I wish I had known you were coming,” she smiled as she moved aside to let him enter.
“And you brought Luci!” she exclaimed as she bent down to pet the red dog. “How’s my favorite demon, Lucifer?”
Luci pushed into the old woman’s legs, sitting on her feet as she looked up with what reminded him of a grin, her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth.
“You are the only one she is ever that happy to see Nana.” Hank grinned as he leaned over to give his grandmother a hug.
“You are a sight for sore eyes,” his grandmother Ariel replied as she patted him happily on the back. Pulling away from him, she spent a few moments looking over her grandson.
“It looks like you are keeping fit, although you are a little thin. Are you eating enough?”
Hank grinned. “Not really, but we were kind of hoping that you could fix that!”
Ariel grinned, “I most certainly can! How about some coffee?”
Grabbing his hand, she led him over to the small kitchen table before making her way to the counter to whip up a batch of coffee.
“I had a feeling something different was going to happen when I woke up this morning,” she exclaimed as she poured the water into the coffee maker.
“Oh yeah?” he replied cautiously, “So did I actually. In fact, it was the most different morning that I have ever had.”
Hank’s parents had both died years ago in a car accident, the same accident that had crushed his foot. Being only ten at the time, he moved in with his grandparents until he’d eventually gone off to college. When his grandfather had died ten years before, it had left just Hank and his Nana. She was the only family he had left.
Ariel nodded at his response as she pulled some cinnamon rolls out of the oven.
“I just happen to have a large batch of cinnamon rolls ready to eat for breakfast,” she smiled as she set the pan on the table. Turning toward the counter again, she pulled open the lid of a crock and pulled out a dog biscuit.
“And here’s a goody for you too Luci,” she said with a smile as Luci sat on her hind legs to receive the treat.”
“Since when do you keep dog biscuits in the house?” Hank asked suspiciously as he bit into the hot cinnamon roll.
“Since I went to the store early this morning,” Ariel smiled as she sat a steaming cup of coffee in front of him.
He stopped chewing as he stared at his grandmother. She just returned his smile as she sat down next to him with her own cup of coffee. Placing her hand on his arm, “Finish chewing Hank, chewing your food properly is one of the hallmarks to a long life.”
In spite of his curiosity, he finished chewing before he spoke next.
“Did you…know we were coming?” he asked quietly.
“I had a good idea,” his grandmother replied cryptically. “Please, have another roll, I made plenty.”
Hank placed his hand on hers instead, looking at her thoughtfully before saying, “Nana?”
“Yes, Hank?”
“How could you know that we would be coming here today?”
Ariel shrugged her shoulders. “Well you know it is long overdue. I guess I was just hopeful!”
She smiled at him then, seeming confident that this reasoning would put an end to his doubts.
He grabbed another cinnamon roll, taking a bite and chewing it slowly as he stared at his grandmother suspiciously.
“I don’t buy it,” he finally replied when he finished chewing. “I’m sure you don’t do this every weekend…why this particular one?”
Ariel was by then staring at her coffee cup, running her fingernail around the rim distractedly. Finally sighing, she replied just above a whisper.
“Dulci told me.”
***
Hank jumped up and away from the table, glaring at his grandmother like she was a demon.
“Oh my God!” he literally screamed. “Wait! You know Dulci?”
“Oh my God!” he repeated then. “I mean…do you know who she was? I mean…with Tamaki?”
Hank had always called his Grandfather by his first name. Tamaki had insisted on it.
Ariel nodded. “Sit down son; you will ruin your digestion.”
Still staring at Ariel like she was from a different world, Hank nevertheless made his way back to his chair and sat down.
“I’m sorry for exploding like that Nana...but…what the hell?”
Ariel placed her hand calmly on his.
“I knew someday that this may come up. I was hoping it would miss you of course, with the curse and all. But with Howie’s passing…”
Hank felt so lightheaded that he crossed his arms on the table in front of him and lowered his head as he let out a moan.
“This can not be happening to me!”
Feeling a little better in a few moments, he again raised his head and locked his eyes on hers.
“Have you always known?” he asked, unsure of where to start.
Ariel nodded. “Not at first of course, but once your Grandfather and I had become engaged, he told me. He wanted no secrets between us, even though he risked losing me with such a farfetched story.”
“I must admit,” she continued while moving her eyes back to her coffee, “It was quite a lot to swallow, not to mention their past relationship and all.”
She was quiet for a few moments as she seemed to reflect on the past.
“I didn’t talk to him for two weeks after he told me. At first, I was appalled, as well as more than a little worried about his sanity.”
Her eyes again met Hank’s. “His story must have replayed in my mind a thousand times in those weeks that followed. But I finally realized that I had never trusted anyone more than I had Tamaki, and trust was a two-way street. He trusted me enough to tell me, when he could have easily kept that part of his life to himself.”
“I would have been fine with not knowing I suppose,” she continued, “And we would have still had a beautiful life together. But the fact that he risked it all to tell me an extremely unbelievable story…”
Ariel reached over and firmly gripped his hand.
“It took the ult
imate courage to tell me that, Hank. Once I got over the shock, I loved him all the more because he told me. Our life together was perfect, and it couldn’t have been if he hadn’t revealed that to me.”
He nodded quietly.
“How long have you been talking to Dulci?” he questioned then.
Ariel smiled, “After Tamaki passed. When she found out that he was gone, she came to me one night in a dream. That first night we just hugged each other and cried for our loss. After that she started coming more frequently…and we got to know each other. I came to find that I really liked her, and I now love her like a sister.”
“You have to understand, Hank,” Ariel continued, “She is the closest thing to family that I have now, besides you of course. But she is a woman, and we have shared the love of the same man. It is a relationship that I could never have with you; no matter how much I love you.”
A single tear made her way down her face as she got up to get a tissue.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled before blowing her nose. “I didn’t mean to come off as such a sissy.”
Hank couldn’t help but laugh at her categorization of herself. Rising from his seat, he moved over to Ariel and gave her a hug.
“You are far from a sissy Nana. You are an even more amazing person than I thought…and that’s saying a lot!”
As he wrapped his arms around his grandmother, he had a sudden thought…a very creepy sudden thought.
Not only was he having untold feeling toward a woman that was not of this world, she had also been his grandfather’s lover…and she was now his grandmother’s best friend!
Hank felt like he might get sick.
Chapter 20
Hank had a lot to digest and asked if they could take a walk. Ariel nodded, blowing her nose one more time before she gave him a smile.
“Would you rather go alone? I have given you a lot to think about I’m afraid.”
He gave this some thought. “Luci really needs to run, but I still have many questions…if you are up to it.”
Ariel smiled and nodded. “I would love to, although I’m much slower than I used to be.”
He shook his head, “My head is spinning so much right now. I don’t think I could muster much more than a slow stroll anyway.”
By the time Hank went to the car to retrieve his staff, Ariel was ready. Moving down a small hill on the side of the cottage, they then moved through what had once been an orchard. Not used as such in years, the few trees remaining were large and twisted remnants of apple and pear. He used to play there when he was younger, climbing high in the trees and pretending to be a pirate or soldier.
Luci took off almost immediately after a squirrel but soon returned. To Hank, it seemed that she too wanted to hear the rest of the story. Remembering her apparent communications with Dulci, he wasn’t surprised.
Turning his eyes forward once again, he noticed Ariel glancing at his staff.
“That was your grandfather’s most prized possession you know,” she mentioned when she noticed him watching her.
“I didn’t know that,” he admitted as he remembered its magical transformation earlier. Or was that yesterday?
“I realize now that it must have come from Faerie,” he continued when his head stopped spinning from the thought of time travel.
Ariel nodded. “It did indeed. He was awarded it by the queen of the Summer Court for his bravery. It was a huge honor, the equivalent to being knighted on this side of the barrier.”
Finding a nearby stump, Ariel made her way to it and sat down. “You’ll have to excuse an old woman’s need for frequent rests, Hank.”
“No problem Nana,” he replied as he kneeled beside her. Doing the math in his head, he suddenly realized that Ariel would be eighty-six in a month.
“We can go back if you’d like Nana,” Hank offered. “This may be too strenuous for you.”
Ariel waved off his concerns. “I walk every day, Hank. I like being vertical, and I exercise every day to keep myself that way!”
He grinned at his Nana’s pluck. She and Tamaki had been his anchor in this world for so long, he wasn’t sure what he would do without her. Although he hadn’t been on the farm in quite awhile, he called her at least twice a week to see how she was and if she needed anything.
Many times, he just called to hear her voice. She was an inspiration to him, especially if he was down about anything.
“Your grandfather studied Kobudo his whole life.” Ariel continued then. “After he received that staff, he concentrated his efforts almost exclusively on Hanbō Jutsu due to the length of that staff. He loved that old piece of wood.”
“You know, it’s funny,” she beamed. “He gave me the choice of whether to stay with him or not, but he would have never given up that staff.”
“Why did he give it to me then?” Hank asked in confusion. “I mean, even if had wanted me to have it eventually, I was only ten when he gave it to me. Knowing now how important it was to him…”
Ariel reached out and clasped his hand into hers, bringing it to her lips and kissing it before continuing.
“You had been through so much for a ten-year-old, Hank. You had already lost your brother…your twin brother. You just lost your parents, and you were left with a potentially debilitating injury. We were determined to help you overcome those things! Your life could have spiraled down into a completely different direction considering everything that your heart had had to bear at that point.”
Tears erupted out of Ariel’s eyes as she dug into her pocket for a tissue.
Haunted by her sudden sadness, Hank leaned in toward her with a tear of his own sliding down his cheek.
“Shhh, shhh,” he whispered as he drew her into a hug. “You guys were fantastic…and you still are! It’s true, I could have turned out a lot worse…but I didn’t! And it’s all thanks to your and Tamaki’s love and devotion to me. I couldn’t have been in better hands if God had lifted me up personally and placed me with the angels!”
Ariel giggled at that, wrapping her arms around Hank and giving him a pleasant squeeze.
Luci took the opportunity to squeeze in between the two, much to Ariel’s delight.
“Oh Luci dear,” she laughed, reaching down and giving her a hug of her own. “Have I been ignoring you?”
Luci licked Ariel’s face in answer to her question, causing her to bring out the tissue once again.
Threading her hand around his arm, they resumed their walk. They continued on silently for a time before Ariel spoke again.
“There was another reason that Tamaki gave you the staff so early, Hank.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked curiously.
Ariel nodded, “Because of Howie’s passing there was always the possibility that the curse had been lifted. Tamaki had only been seventeen when he stumbled on Faerie, and he didn’t want to risk you being unprepared whenever it happened to you.”
Hank digested this new information quietly, surprised when the cottage came into view ahead of them.
“The farm definitely felt bigger when I was younger,” he observed as the made their way up a small rise to the cottage door. Its familiarity warmed his soul.
“We have been gone over an hour, Hank,” Ariel proffered. “It’s still the same size, you were just…distracted.”
“I guess so,” he mumbled, still feeling distracted over everything he learned.
As they entered the cool interior, Ariel made her way to her bedroom while he took a seat at the table. A new thought entered his head, and he couldn’t wait for Ariel to return before he asked it.
“You know,” he called out across the room, “I just stumbled upon this stone that seems to have some kind of magic attached to it. It’s quite apparent that I need it to cross over into Faerie. How did Tamaki do it without one of those?”
“You’re talking about a talisman,” Ariel replied as she reappeared from the bedroom carrying an old wooden box with inlaid ivory designs. Lifting the lid when she got to the tabl
e, she pulled out a card and handed it to Hank.
“I drew that,” she said simply.
Taking the card, he found on it a sketch of his grandfather in some kind of costume.
“Wow!” he exclaimed as he took in the image. “That’s some getup!”
“Samurai Battle Dress,” Ariel explained as she took a seat beside him. “He, of course, came from the old country; he was very much into the old ways.”
“I’ve never seen this before,” Hank whispered before looking up at Ariel, “How come he never showed me any of this?”
Ariel shrugged, “He realized that you were raised in a different era, and that the pride that he felt with the uniform could never be passed on to you the way it was to him.”
“Where is it? I’d like to see it!” Hank exclaimed.
Ariel was quiet for a few moments as she stared at the picture.
“We sold it,” she finally replied quietly.
“You sold it?” Hank responded. “How could you sell something like this?” he asked as he pointed to the sketch.
Ariel shrugged, “It was easy when it came right down to it. We had no insurance and not a lot of savings when you came to us, Hank. There were medical bills, and some physical therapy to pay for. One day I woke up and Tamaki was gone. When he returned that evening, he told me he had taken the Battle Dress to a museum in Portland who had purchased it for a handsome price.”
Hank was taken aback. “He gave up his most prized possession…for me?”
Quickly remembering the staff, he added, “Actually two of his prized possessions!”
Ariel nodded, “That’s what one does for family…for someone you love.”
Hank slouched back in his chair. “I feel like I’ve been such a burden on your lives,” he mumbled.
“Oh hogwash!” Ariel replied with a stern look. “We would have given everything that we owned to help you!”
He still wasn’t feeling worthy, but he pasted a smile on his face nevertheless. “Thank you Nana…I guess I just never realized.”
“Don’t give it another thought, Hank,” she replied while digging in the box once again.